A magnetic head for recording generally consists of two portions, a writer portion for storing magnetically-encoded information on a magnetic media (disc) and a reader portion for retrieving that magnetically-encoded information from the media. The writer portion of the magnetic head typically consists of a main pole and a return pole which are magnetically separated from each other at an air bearing surface (ABS) of the writer by a nonmagnetic gap layer, and which are magnetically connected to each other at a region distal from the ABS by a back gap closure. In recording head fabrication process, the writer pole is fabricated from a writer pole wafer.